TALLEVAST -- When he was in college, Sean Stalter spent his free time taking care of the sharks that lived in the 3,000-gallon aquarium he had in his home. At the time, it was the culmination of a hobby he'd loved since he was 5.
At first, Stalter was primarily obsessed with the creatures living in his undersea environment. But more and more, he got curious about how the aquarium was built. Eventually, he realized he could make a better one for a lot less money than he could to buy it. So he did.
What started as a hobby is now a business. Stalter opened SeaQuatic Aquariums, a custom, large-scale aquarium manufacturer, in Tallevast 18 months ago. It's nothing he went to school for -- he has a degree in physics from Bowling Green University -- and he's never been a fabricator in any industry.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur has a knack for figuring things out. When he made up his mind to jump into the aquarium industry a few years ago, he researched construction methods, formulas for the bonding agents used to hold giant sheets of acrylic together and the suppliers he'd need to deliver his first commissioned aquarium within a few weeks of starting SeaQuatic.
Ten major projects in, including a 35,000-gallon aquarium, the strategy is paying off. The company has been selling aquariums priced between $30,000 and $1 million.
"This is what I wanted to do, so I figured it out," Stalter said.
Once a fad lifestyle item that gained huge popularity during the 1970s, aquariums are now the basis of a high-profile industry that not only makes little cube homes for goldfish, but also massive, custom environments featured in the homes of the wealthy and in public venues. The industry has spawned two television shows that follow custom aquarium manufacturers -- Tanked on the Discovery Channel and National Geographic series Fish Tank Kings -- and is putting more sea life into more elaborate aquariums every year.
Stalter, who moved his operation and team of four full-time trade workers into 6,600 square feet of light manufacturing space at 5915
21st St. E. two weeks ago, is still flying under the radar. The majority of his clients are high-net-worth individuals who tend to sign him to confidentiality agreements when he builds aquariums for them.
SeaQuatic is still building a more public portfolio of acrylic and fiberglass and steel framed acrylic tanks, including a shark tank recently installed in a Toronto Chinese restaurant, and a hydrodynamic tank built for research at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
With the intent to grow his business dramatically in the next year, Stalter is staking his market share on building a better fish tank. He developed a proprietary technique that allows him to almost seamlessly bond multiple sheets of acrylic in a way that retains up to 90 percent of the strength of single sheet. That's important in an aquarium containing more than 100,000 pounds of water exerting thousands of pounds of force on those bonds.
"It's a little more complex than building a box," he said.
One client who knows this is Stefan Mancas, an associate professor of mathematics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. Mancas and several of his colleagues built a long, shallow wave tank two years ago to use in experiments involving wave action, aerodynamics and observing vortices.
When the university funded a new building and a new air and water research facility, it budgeted for a much larger tank. Mancas said the school looked at bids from two Florida aquarium companies, but chose SeaQuatic for its pricing and other factors. The company built a 32-foot-long, 4,000-gallon tank the university filled with 3 feet of water.
"In Florida, there are not too many wave tanks," Mancas said. "The reason we went with this company is first they are local."
Stalter designs all the tanks his company builds and specs out all the "life support" equipment needed to operate them as underwater habitats. He supervises the installation of all the aquariums he produces.
SeaQuatic manufactures all components that go into building its tanks in-house, from wood molds to framing members. Stalter has also become expert at finding the lowest prices from materials providers to keep his products competitive.
At the moment, SeaQuatic is building a 12-foot-high, cylindrical 11,000-gallon tank that will be home to several sharks a few weeks from now. Also on the floor is an 800-gallon tank nearly ready for delivery. Two more in the 5,000-gallon range are in the planning phases.
The longer range goal, Stalter said, is to build even bigger aquariums for institutional or public aquariums such as Mote Marine Institute and SeaWorld. Stalter said he is currently bidding to build two such enclosures.
Originally from Ohio, Stalter moved to Bradenton just before opening SeaQuatic. While having family in the area and the warm weather were the initial draws, he said he's been pleasantly surprised by the availability of manufacturing space and of skilled fabricators. He self-funded the company's startup.
SeaQuatic has diversified its business beyond aquariums. It also builds underwater windows for swimming pools and sells artificial coral reefs for aquarium installation.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.